Liu Fuxing, who lives in Gongyi, a city in central China's Henan Province, has a large extended family. The three-generation family, with 21 members, attaches importance to reading, and to participating in public-welfare activities. The Lius also take great pride in inheriting fine family virtues, and promoting good manners in the new era.

Liu in 2014 established an institution in Gongyi to research folk customs. The institution has since organized various cultural activities, which have enriched the lives of hundreds of thousands of the city's residents. Liu, now in his 80s, still works hard to promote art forms and craftsmanship designated as intangible cultural heritage, and other cultural charms, of Gongyi. 

As if that wasn't enough, he and his wife, Zhang Chunju, pay a lot of attention to the education of their children and grandchildren. Liu and Zhang, a doctor before her retirement, have led their children and grandchildren in participating in volunteer-service activities, and in helping in-need children and families. 

Liu was born in 1944. Influenced by his mother, grandfather and great-grandfather, Liu developed an interest in reading at a young age. He studied very hard. Even though he had to quit high school — because his father passed away, and he had to begin working to support his family — Liu did not stop reading. He continued to study — on his own. 

Liu joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1967. He worked as an accountant and secretary of the CPC branch of the rural production team in his hometown, and he helped lead the villagers in plowing farmland and building wells and roads. Together, they developed their hometown. 

Nowadays, Liu and Zhang organize a gathering of their large extended family every Chinese New Year. They review their fine family traditions of reading, working hard and adhering to moral virtues and etiquette. 

Liu Fuxing's daughter, Liu Shuli, is curator of the Library of Gongyi City. She has organized hundreds of activities, including training sessions, to promote reading and fine Chinese culture. In 2020, Liu Shuli and her sister, Liu Yilan, established a night school for women. The school was designated a "lifelong-learning brand project of Henan Province" in 2023. More than 200 activities have been organized under the school, and those activities have benefitted, combined, more than 10,000 people. 

Liu Fuxing's son, Liu Jifeng, likes reading classical Chinese books. Influenced by his parents, Liu Jifeng has been an advocate of fine traditional Chinese culture. In 2013, he founded an academy to promote the learning of classical Chinese books. He has organized more than 300 public-welfare study and reading activities. In 2021, Zhengzhou Women's Federation named the academy "a parent-child reading base for families in Zhengzhou (capital of Henan Province)." 

Liu Jifeng's wife, Zhang Cai, has organized mothers in the area to participate in online and/or offline activities, to improve the family education they provide their children. In 2023, Liu Shuli and Liu Jifeng organized a reading event in Gongyi. They invited representatives from various occupations to read, and to share great mottoes related to their respective fields. Participants were inspired by the mottoes, and they vowed to work harder. 

As a CPC member, Liu Fuxing takes the lead in volunteering in his community. He encourages his wife and other family members to participate in community-based, public-welfare activities, especially those designed to improve the environment of their neighborhood. The elderly couple, and their children, often provide donations and support to children and families living in difficulties. 

Given the family's dedication to reading and promoting moral virtues, Liu Fuxing's family has been named a "most beautiful family" of Henan Province.

Photos from Interviewees

(Women of China English Monthly December 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha